WHEELS

2012 Hyundai Azera: An uncommon touch

The 2012 Hyundai Azera, a fully equipped sedan, is one of the most attractive cars the author says he's driven in the past five years. He expects more vehicle manufacturers to start imitating Hyundai's "fluidic sculpture" concepts.

American politicians should study the success of Hyundai Motor Co. since its 1986 entry into the U.S. car market. Our less-than-productive supposed leaders could learn several important lessons:

One, Hyundai learned quickly from its mistakes, did not waste a crisis, wasted absolutely no time in finger-pointing and kept its vow to do better. Hyundai frankly acknowledged that its first U.S. entry, the Excel subcompact, was cheap in every sense of the word — essentially noncompetitive. The company then did what it had to do to develop and maintain quality. It took big marketing gambles by offering much more for less, with “less” having nothing to do with a reduction in product content or quality.

Two, Hyundai never forgot the middle and working classes. In the dark days of the Great Recession of 2008, the South Korean car company did what too many U.S. politicians and corporations failed to do. While our government was handing out bank-bailout money sans meaningful prosecutions for wrongdoing, and companies nationwide were delivering pink slips to their employees, Hyundai was giving middle- and working-class people in this country a break — assuring them that if they lost income through no fault of their own after purchasing a new Hyundai, the company would allow them to return the vehicle and back out of the deal with no blemish on their credit rating.

More than that, Hyundai promised to welcome back those once financially troubled buyers with excellent products and new-vehicle financing once they were restored to solvency. That combination of compassion, innovation and now-world-competitive product quality has helped Hyundai — which began producing cars in 1967, decades after its major rivals — become the fourth-largest automaker in the world in terms of sales. That’s fourth based on 2010 sales numbers, after Toyota, General Motors and Volkswagen.

For the past two years, Hyundai, formerly the laughingstock of the global automotive industry, has been the world’s fastest-growing car company in terms of sales. A concrete example of how Hyundai achieved that success is the vehicle of today’s conversation, the completely redesigned 2012 Hyundai Azera “common luxury” sedan.

I use the term “common luxury” to codify Hyundai’s theory that those willing to spend $32,000 for a large family sedan should get a heck of a lot more than prestige for the money. They should get world-class safety, fit and finish, world-competitive exterior and interior design, and world-class performance (ride, acceleration, braking and handling).

The 2012 Azera offers all those things at a base price of $32,000, easily price-and-content competitive with models such as the 2012 Acura ILX (with technology package), BMW 328i, Buick Regal and Lucerne, and Lexus ES350.

I suspect, based on conversations with Hyundai officials and others in the auto industry, that labor costs have much to do with Hyundai’s pricing advantage. Hyundai has some of the lowest employee-compensation packages in the car industry. But if its assembly workers in Asia and at the U.S. Hyundai plant in Montgomery, Ala., are upset over their pay, their discontent so far isn’t showing up in Hyundai’s product quality.

The Azera, built in Ulsan, South Korea, is a case in point. With its patented “fluidic sculpture,” in which lines and curves move into and out of one another in the manner of water blown by a gentle wind, the car visually stands out from everything in its class. It quite literally is mobile sculpture, in this case done for the masses. Interior design is tight and ergonomically comfortable, augmented at night by cabin mood lighting. The seats have been specially designed to reduce back injuries and whiplash neck damage in rear-end collisions. There is, unfortunately, an abundance of hard plastic on the dashboard, one place where Hyundai apparently cut costs.

But there is compensation for that error in materials quality, in the form of the new Azera’s generous allocation of space. Tall, short, wide and narrow people can feel comfortable behind the wheel of this one. The driver’s seat is power-adjustable to keep long-legged types from feeling as if they’re sitting on the edge of a high bed. Back-seat room can comfortably accommodate three normal-size adult bodies on a long trip.

The Azera comes loaded with electronic infotainment amenities and aids, including a high-resolution backup camera and Bluetooth phone and USB connections — and, again, at a price many buyers can afford.

The 2012 Azera, so wonderfully improved over earlier models, including its XG350 predecessor, comes with a gasoline-direct-injection 3.3-liter V-6 engine (293 horsepower, 255 foot-pounds of torque). That’s plenty of power.

You won’t feel cheated in an Azera, slotted between the mid-size Sonata and the super-upscale Genesis in Hyundai’s lineup. Based on a now-thorough examination of its U.S. offerings, it seems to me that Hyundai respects its buyers too much to cheat or “play” them.

Bottom line: The Azera belongs high on the list of anyone shopping for a full-size family sedan in the $30,000-to-$50,000 price range.

Ride, acceleration and handling: It gets very good marks in all three. “Very good” means that it will please law-abiding drivers in all three categories but will probably do nothing to please habitual pedal-to-the-metal “driving enthusiasts.”

Head-turning quotient: The Azera is one of the most attractive cars I’ve driven in the past five years. It snapped necks and turned heads everywhere I drove and parked it. I look for more vehicle manufacturers to start imitating Hyundai’s “fluidic sculpture” concepts.

Body style/layout: The 2012 Hyundai Azera is a fully equipped front-engine, front-wheel-drive “common luxury” sedan slotted between the mid-size Hyundai Sonata sedan and the super-luxury Hyundai Genesis. “Common luxury” means that the Azera offers nearly everything sold on a much more expensive car as standard equipment and at a lower price.

Engine/transmission: It comes standard with a 3.3-liter, gasoline-direct-injection, 24-valve, V-6 engine with electronically controlled variable valve lift and timing (293 horsepower, 255 foot-pounds of torque). The engine is linked to a six-speed automatic transmission that also can be operated manually.

Capacities: There are seats for five people. Cargo capacity with rear seats up is 16.3 cubic feet. The fuel tank holds 18.5 gallons. This one runs fine on regular gasoline. There is no need for “plus” or “premium” grades for better performance.

Mileage: I averaged 17 miles per gallon in the city and 26 on the highway. The Environmental Protection Agency’s rating for this car is 20 mpg city and 29 highway. Hint: Try to avoid mid-city traffic jams and slow down on the highway.

Price: The base price for the 2012 Hyundai Azera is $32,000. Dealer’s invoice price on that model is $29,864. Price as tested is $32,900, including $25 for an on-board first-aid kit and an $875 destination charge. Dealer’s price as tested is $30,759.